Learning to Unlearn
In today’s fast-paced world of technological innovation, unlearning is as important as learning. To appreciate massive technological shifts occurring in the world, sometimes you have to unlearn the old to adopt the new. Blockchain and its impact on the decentralization of our economy is no different. This book will provide you with some of the early building blocks to dive in head first – allowing you to lose yourself in the rabbit hole many of us have come to love. Take the red pill, and we’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes!

We have been navigating the world of blockchain, the decentralized economy, the future of supply chain, and industry 4.0 for almost a decade. During that journey, we have met a number of people that have helped shape our vision of the future and inspired our continued efforts.

The following names are in no particular order and is likely not an exhaustive list of the people that drove us to dedicate several years toward the creation of this textbook. It’s important to note, that this textbook is just the beginning. It is version 1.0, and likely the first of many iterations. It’s intended to support a holistic education for a wide variety of disciplines on a complex topic that, once fully understood, will change the way many think about the world.

If there’s one thing that has catalyzed us further and further down the rabbit hole, it’s the people involved in this nascent technology space. This community is home to some of the most incredible human beings we’ve ever met. We’ve had the opportunity to share in the innovation battles of some amazing thinkers who, in the beginning, were often laughed out of rooms and referred to as fringe. Today, they are world-class entrepreneurs, researchers, thinkers, and in some cases...billionaires. We have enjoyed watching them grow and sharing in the ups and downs from these same growing pains. In many ways, we are lucky to have been early enough in an industry to meet and work with some of its earliest movers and shakers.

To that end, huge hugs and thanks to the following people who have inspired us over the years:

Our co-author, Dr. William Wagner, who is always persistent and optimistic about the future. Our family for its immense support, especially Madison, Scott and Cynthia, Marie and Michael, and Max and Nagila. Our friends and partners at Animal Ventures, including Tracey Perkins, Jimmy Hester and Adrian Armaselu and Swathi Chandrashekar for their work on the tutorials, Garrett Conaty, Nicolas Walker, Trevor Cobb, John Fitch, Justin Holmes, Tate Ryan-Mosley, Tristan Mace, and Ezra Tollett. Our network of guides and entrepreneurs, including Celestine Schnugg (Boom Capital), R.Jay Magill, Dominic Williams (Founder of Dfinity), Fabian Vogelsteller (Founder of Lukso), Marjorie Hernandez (Founder of Lukso), Jutta Steiner (Founder of Parity and Polkadot), Gavin Wood (Founder of Parity and Polkadot), Vlad Zamfir (Ethereum Researcher), Vitalik Buterin, (Founder of Ethereum), Gustav Simonsson (Co-Founder of Orchid Labs), Byron Gibson (Stanford Center for Blockchain Research), Ken Kappler (Co-Founder of Parity), TJ Saw (Co-Founder of Parity), Jeff Wilke (Co-Founder of Ethereum), Heiko Hees (Founder of BrainBot), Elizabeth Stark (Co-Founder of Lightning Labs), Sarah Meiklejohn (UCL), Pia Mancini (Democracy Earth), Peter Todd, Nick Szabo, Yaniv Tal (Graph Protocol), Tim Swanson (Post Oak Labs), and Akseli Virtanen (ECSA). Lisbeth McNabb (Linux Foundation), Craig Kennedy (Merck & Co), Quentin Roach (Merck & Co), Paul Cocuzzo (Merck & Co), Jacob Lustig (Merck & Co), Chuck Hammel IV and Chuck Hammel III (PITT-OHIO), Kevin Humphries (FedEx), Dale Chrystie (FedEx), Don Fike (FedEx), Thierry Fabing (AXA), Roland Scharrer (AXA), Mike DiPetrillo (VMWare), Nicolas Harle, and Andrew Walduck. Reid Hoffman (Greylock Partners/LinkedIn), Mike Maples (Floodgate Capital), Kevin Kelly (Author of The Inevitable), Eric Ries (Author of The Lean Startup), John Occhipinti (Wheelhouse Partners), Bruce Armstrong (Khosla Ventures), Hilary Armstrong, Dick Boyce (TPG Capital), Mark Kingdon, Suzanne and Elliott Felson, Joel Flory (VSCO), Matt Galligan (Picks & Shovels Co), Chris Hutchins (Grove), Kevin Rose, Nicolas Michaelson (Systemic Ventures), Clint Nelson (Startup Weekend), Frank Nouyrigat (Startup Weekend), Scott Nolan (Founders Fund), Naval Ravikant (Angel List), Karen Richardson, Satya Nadella, Greg Shaw, Michael and Xochi Birch (Bebo), and the researchers at the Institute for the Future. Dean Eric Meyer (University of Texas School of Information), Cassie Alvarado (University of Texas School of Information), Don Tapscott (Author of Blockchain Revolution), DCI and MIT Media Lab, and John Clippinger. Karen Roth, Bruno Guissani (TED), Anthony Cowell (KPMG), Jon and Sylvia Duncanson, Lynne Bairstow, and Danilo Sierra (Mimosa Agency), Keegan Caldwell (Caldwell LLP), David Belt (New Lab), Scott Cohen (New Lab), General David Petraeus (KKR), and Dr. Brandon Chicotsky.

Tom and Bettina